It looks like Los Angeles Lakers guard Lonzo Ball has officially had it with Big Baller Brand.
Los Angeles Lakers floor general Lonzo Ball has had a rocky second year in the NBA. Back in January, Ball injured his ankle during a contest against the Houston Rockets.
Ever since that Houston game, the young man has not seen any action for the Lakers. As a matter of fact, Ball was officially shut down by the team not that long ago given their lack of success.
However, the injury is not the only reason Lonzo’s sophomore campaign has been a challenging one. It has been tough on account of personal reasons that go beyond anything on the court.
As our own Ronald Agers described recently, the eldest son of LaVar Ball has apparently had it with Big Baller Brand. Lonzo got upset because $1.5 million suddenly disappeared from his personal and business accounts.
The likely culprit is Alan Foster, who helped found Big Baller Brand.
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Via ESPN writer Ohm Youngmisuk (with the aid of Ramona Shelburne and Paula Lavigne), what makes the Ball incident sad is that Foster has had ties with the Ball clan for years. Suffice to say, that is no longer true.
The same report went on to say that Foster, who had a 16.3 percent stake in BBB, does not have the prettiest criminal record. In other words, this is not the first time Foster has embezzled money.
On that note, it is wise that Ball is cutting off contact with the former family friend. Real friends do not do stuff along those lines.
In the aftermath of the family business chaos, Lonzo Ball made another mature move to suggest his disinterest in Big Baller Brand.
Per Jack Bauer of Yahoo Sports, No. 2 recently had his BBB tattoo concealed with another tattoo. The secondary tattoo showcases a pair of dice, highlighted with the numbers one, two, and three. As Bauer stated, the numbers are probably evocative of the numbers he and his brothers tend to wear on the court.
The news about the tattoo concealment was confirmed yesterday in a social media post made by The Blast.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BvfoNGcAMJ1/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
As Matt Bonesteel of The Washington Post wrote, this is not encouraging news for the Big Baller Brand. Given Foster’s inappropriate actions, Ball appears to be ready to desert the brand altogether.
Assuming this report is valid, this would plausibly lead to the downfall of the Ball’s family business. The Lakers’ point guard owns 51 percent of the company. Therefore, if he quits, it would not look good from a marketing standpoint.
Bonesteel goes on to say that Ball and his kin did not know about Foster’s murky past. Bonesteel’s thought process here is courtesy of another report Shelburne and Lavigne compiled recently.
Yes, for those who are not aware, Foster was once placed in the slammer for a similar reason.
"“In 2002, Foster was sentenced to more than seven years in prison after pleading guilty to one count of mail fraud and two counts of money laundering as part of a scheme that defrauded 70 investors of $4 million, according to federal court records obtained by ESPN. Foster was also ordered to pay $3.7 million in restitution to victims,” they write."
Because of this, Ball’s decision to shield his Big Baller Brand ink for good is practical. It should not cause one to gasp.
In fact, stemming from Youngmisuk’s report, the 21-year-old also unfollowed Big Baller Brand online. Kudos to the young Laker for taking a stand on the matter.
While this whole situation is quite unfortunate, there is a silver lining in all of this perhaps. Ball has one less thing to focus on now and can just do his part to get healthy for the fall.
His health is crucial for the Lakers’ chances, as they hope to end their unprecedented six-year playoff drought in 2019-2020.
At this juncture, let’s cross the fingers that the funds can be returned to Ball and his family. It is bad enough to have to endure a season-ending injury. Granted it is a different kind of pain, it is arguably worse to lose someone you thought was a friend over something of this nature.